Stats of the day: Rockets' Game 1 and Astros' offense

James Harden has stood out in the opening games of this year's postseason series, putting up 40-point games in all three.

Photo: Eric Gay, Associated Press

Dale Robertson (aka @sportywineguy) is a confessed stats/numbers geek. These are the ones bouncing around in his head today:

10 – Times the Rockets have lost the first game of a playoff series since their last championship season of 1995.

1 – Times the Rockets have come back to win any of those series, beating only the Clippers (and Chris Paul) in the Western Conference semifinals in 2015.

1 – Player in NBA history, the Rockets' James Harden, to score 40 points in three straight Game 1s in a single postseason.

2 – Players in NBA history, Harden and Shaquille O'Neal (2000), to have three 40-point Game 1s in the same postseason.

1 – Times in the past 10 games in which Astros pitchers have allowed more than 3 runs.

6-4 – Astros' record in those 10 games

90 – More runs the Astros have scored all season than their opponents, best in MLB.

66 – More runs the Red Sox have scored this season than their opponents, second best in MLB

1 – Hit by Jose Altuve in his past 17 at-bats over four games.

53 – Hits by Altuve in 43 games this season.

200 - Projected hits by Altuve if he plays in all 162 games, which would give him five 200-hit seasons in a row.

3 – Pitchers with multiple 11-strikeout games within the first six appearances of their careers since the pitcher's mound moved to its current distance from home plate in 1893: the Angels' Shoehei Ohtani this season, Kerry Wood (1998) and Karl Spooner (1954).

Dale Robertson retired from the Houston Chronicle sports staff in February 2019 after having spent 46-plus years as a sports writer at a major daily newspaper in Texas. He still serves as the Chronicle’s wine columnist while writing occasionally about health issues and travel destinations.